Catapults, confusion and car wrecks
by And a Pickle
Summary: A new girl on the scene spells love for Jesse. I know Mark only has one daughter but use your imaginations and pretend he has two.


Catapults, Confusion and Car wrecks

Written: approx 3rd July 2005

Disclaimer: All the character names belong to Viacom with the exception of Ellie who is purely my own., I've borrowed them for a bit of fun and to amuse myself as the weather is crap. So in the words of my very good friend Sophie, roses are red, violets are blue, me not own, you not sue.

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__Chapter one_

_Knock, Knock_

There was a sound at the door. Who could this be, Mark wondered as he crossed to open it. It was 8 o'clock at night and pouring with rain outside. He opened the door and saw a pretty girl standing there under a bright pink umbrella and carrying several bags. Her light brown hair was scraped back into a pony tail and she was facing away from him. When this girl turned, Mark nearly died. Her face was just like his late wife's, and her eyes, they were a pale grey/blue, just like his.

"Dad." The girl said timidly.

"Ell," Mark said, hardly daring to believe it himself.

"Yeah Dad, I'm back" she said, her freckled face breaking into a warm smile that lit up her eyes. You see, Ell, Ellen Sloan being her real name, had spent the past ten years in England, studying at university. As Mark led her inside she explained that she had just gained her qualifications and had spent the past three years in a hospital over there and had just finished her residency. Jesse and Amanda looked up at the noise and turned round.

"Hi Mandy," Ellie said, sheepishly as she crossed the room and gave her a huge hug.

"This is Dr. Jesse Travis, a resident at the hospital", Mark said indicating Jesse, who shook Ell's hand," Jess, this is my daughter Ellie"

"Hi," Jesse said, looking into Ellie's gorgeous eyes and wondering if he would ever be able to speak again.

"Hey," she said back, smiling again, "so, where's Steve," she continued.

"Oh, he had to work late, so, what made you come back,"

"Well dad, it's a long story" she said, and started to explain.

_Chapter two_

_Three years later…_

"For they are jolly good fellows, for they are jolly good fellows, for they are jolly good fellows, which nobody can deny," Everyone sang as Jesse and Ellie blew out the 36 candles on each of their cakes. It was the 6th May, and both of the young doctors first day off since their birthdays, which, as they were only two days apart, they often celebrated together.

"Right, now it's present time." Mark said as he passed them each a pile of presents.

"Yey," Jesse said, "I love this part." He smiled as they both started to unwrap some of the brightly coloured parcels in front of them.

It was late on in the night when Jesse and Ellie finally left BBQ Bob's where their party had taken place. The two best friends walked to their cars and bade each other a quick goodnight. "Wait," Ellie said, just as Jesse was about to drive off. He wound down his window and Ellie leaned in and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She smiled and said "Thanks, you make this day extra special." She turned to go and Jesse just sat there in stunned silence. When she was near her car, she turned back and gave him a quick smile and a wave before getting in her sunny yellow convertible and driving off in the direction of her house. Just at that moment, Steve came out of the restaurant and said to Jesse, "Hey, Ellie already gone."

"Um, yeah," Jesse replied, a little blankly.

"You okay Jess? "

"Yeah, course Steve, why wouldn't I be? "

" Oh, no reason, it's just you've gone pink, and there's my sister's lipstick on your cheek"

"Ahhh!" Jesse said and hurriedly started rubbing it off while Steve retreated to his car and laughed _poor Jess, at least he got something nice_ _for his birthday_ Steve chuckled to himself as he headed home, oh boy; Ellie was never going to hear the end of it.

_Chapter three_

"I see you had fun last night" Steve said as he came in his sister's room the next morning.

"I've got no idea what you're going on about" Ellie said innocently as she finished getting dressed in her favourite work jeans and t-shirt and grabbed her purple bag and jacket off the chair in the corner of her room. She hurried past Steve, who was leaning against the door frame grinning.

"Oh, it's just, I saw Jess last night and, well, he had lipstick on him, and I don't think that it was his shade," He said, trying not to laugh.

"Ah, that, well I just thanked him for a great night, that's all, we're just friends, he's like a brother to me, and Steve, please stop looking at me like that, it's giving me the creeps."

"Sor-ee," Steve said, still smirking as he and Ellie brought their argument into the kitchen.

"Hey, what's up," Mark said as the two entered the kitchen.

"Well, I was just talkin' to Ellie and… "He was sharply cut off as Ellie clamped her hand over his mouth and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Nothing dad," Ellie smiled sweetly and gave Steve one of her best glares.

"Honestly, I remember when you kids used to tell me everything," Mark sighed and looked nostalgic for a moment before sharply snapping out of it when, with a hurried goodbye, Ellie ran out of the door with a piece of toast in her hand.

"Wait up," Mark called, "My car's in the shop and I need a lift to the hospital." He waved to Steve and raced out the door after her, nearly falling over Mischief, Ellie's cat in his haste.

_Chapter four_

Jesse was walking down the hall when Ellie popped out of a side room. She saw him and grinned.

"Jess, you've gone crimson," she laughed, "look, about last night, I hope I didn't give you mixed signals, I just wanna be friends, unless, you want to take it further?"

"No, no, last night was great an all, but I like bein friends too," he said, happy that she had brought it up first. They were walking towards the doctor's lounge when Jesse suddenly blurted out, "Oh, I feel the same; you make my birthday that little more special too." They both smiled as they reached the doctor's lounge at last.

"Ooh, someone's looking pleased with themselves," Amanda said as the pair walked in and Jesse immediately started pouring a mug of coffee. They both just laughed and exchanged knowing looks.

"Fine, I don't wanna know," Amanda said, very unconvincingly. Mark walked in at that precise moment and said "Know what?"

"Huh, not you too," Ell said, sighing, "Look, me and Jesse have just, sorted our lives out, and it's none of your business."

"Yeah, right," Jesse said forcefully as the pair made a hasty retreat back to the ER, Jesse taking his cup of hot water with him. Amanda and Mark just gave each other exasperated looks and turned on the TV.

_Chapter five_

"I want an IV hook-up and the defibs STAT!" Jesse shouted as a crash victim was wheeled into the OR. Steve entered and pulled Ellie to the side.

"How does it look, that girls my main witness," he said.

"I dunno, she's lost a lot of blood and those cuts look pretty deep, I'd say 'bout 50/50," Ellie replied, solemnly.

"Damn it"

"Witness to what anyway?" Ellie asked, cocking her head to one side, like an inquisitive puppy.

"A drive-by shooting, we suspect that the mobs involved," Steve said in answer to her question as they walked towards the hospital lounge.

"Hey guys," Amanda said as they entered. She immediately poured Steve a strong coffee as he looked like he needed it. "What's up?" she asked as she sat down again.

"Oh, it's just this mob case I'm working on; it's takin up all of my time and I haven't seen Helen in weeks."

"Aww, you poor thing," Ellie said looking as sympathetic as she could manage, without being sarcastic.

"Yeah, I know, she's threatened to break it off unless we see more of each other."

"Oh, well, that's you told then, see ya." Ellie said as the familiar call of DR. SLOAN TO THE ER, DR. ELLEN SLOAN TO THE ER sounded and she skipped out the door.

"Have you noticed something?" Steve asked Amanda.

"No, what?" She replied.

"Well, Jess and Ellie seem happy all of a sudden and, I saw Jess last night, he had her lipstick on his cheek."

"Who's lipstick?"

"Ellie's"

"NO!"

"Yes," Steve said nodding.

"Well, they did seem rather secretive this morning, does Mark know?"

"Does Mark know what?" Mark asked as he entered the room, "Does this have anything to do with Ellie?"

"NO!" Steve and Amanda both said hurriedly.

_Chapter six_

Ellie and Jesse were relaxing in Ellie's room after a hard days work. Jesse was lying on his stomach on one of the four poster beds, reading a magazine about dirt bike racing while Ellie was sitting on the padded window seat, staring at the rain outside. "It's absolutely ploating down outside," she said, with one last look as she got up, she flopped down on the unoccupied bed and started to transcribe something very unreadable.

"EH," Jesse said looking up, puzzled.

"It's Geordie, it means it's teeming outside," Ellie said with a smile, indicating the window.

"Oh, right, listen, do you ever feel like just goin' on holiday, packin' your bags and leaving, totally unplanned?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, sometimes, I'd like to go back, to England I mean."

"What, this sort of weather make you nostalgic," He said grinning.

"Oi, the summers were okay," Ellie said, throwing a big, yellow pillow at him. Jesse dodged and soon, it had escalated into a full scale pillow fight, both of them laughing and having a great time.

"I guess dad was right," Ellie smiled after the fight was over and Jesse was lying spread-eagled on the floor having fallen off the bed a few minutes previous. "Right about what?" he asked, pulling himself up and rubbing his head. "Oh, just something he said the other day, about how we've never really grown up," she replied as she was searching for her work under the litter of duvets, pillows and teddy bears that now littered the floor. "I guess he's right," Jesse admitted, "but, you know, it's fun being a kid, makes life a bit more bearable, agreed?"

"Agreed," she said and they both shook hands, making the fact official.

_Chapter seven_

The next day, Ellie and Jesse were meeting for lunch at Café crème, Ellie's favourite place to eat. Jesse was sitting down at a window seat when he saw Ellie's canary yellow convertible pull up outside. She came in, they ordered and then started to talk for a bit.

"Ellie."

"Yeah."

This is where it gets good. Jesse leaned in and kissed her. What's even better is, she kissed him back. It was the best day Jesse had had in weeks. Ellie too. They were leaving, hand in hand when, a joyrider hurtled towards the couple. Ellie was on the ground, her eyes closed. The car had hit her and she was thrown over the top of it. "NO,NO,NO." Jesse cried as he called an ambulance and looked at her motionless form. She wasn't breathing. Immediately, Jesse began CPR and brought her pulse back to an almost steady rhythm, just as the ambulance arrived. Jesse couldn't believe it, the day he kisses the girl of his dreams, she gets hit by a car. As they rushed her to community general, Jesse just looked at her perfect, pale face. Her freckles looking like someone had gone crazy with a blow paint gun. "Come on Ellie, you're strong, your gonna make it." Jesse whispered as he kissed her hand. Not a moment too soon, the ambulance pulled up the drive of CGH and Ellie was ushered inside by a crowd of staff. It was two agonising hours before the gang heard anything, Jesse having called them in the spare time.

"Dr.Sloan, Ellie is stable but critical, she's in a coma now and it's a very slim chance that she'll ever wake up." Dr. Montgomery said, as he entered the doctor's lounge.

"When can we see her," Mark said, a tear falling from the old doctor's eye.

"Now, if you wish?"

"Great," Jesse said as he hurriedly ran to her room, but stopped short in his tracks as he looked at her, wires and tubes all over her body. A blood drip connected to her arm and a ventilator to help her breathe.

_Chapter Eight_

"Ellie" he said softly, it was all he could say as he collapsed into a chair and cried, silently. Her face looked even whiter in the glare from the hospital light and her freckles stood out, bright orange and unreal looking. If someone would have taken a photo it would look like Jesse was sitting next to a bed with a life sized doll in rather than a living, breathing person. It felt like his world had ended. Just as he kisses the girl of his dreams, she gets taken away from him. He didn't know what he was gonna do without her; she was one of his best friends. In three years they had gotton to know each other better than some people do in a lifetime. And with that thought in his head, he just stared at Ellie's lifeless form taking her warm hand in his.

_Three weeks later…_

Everything was almost back to normal, with Jesse keeping up an almost constant vigil beside Ellie, and the rest of the gang popping in at regular periods. It was on one of these occasions that Jesse heard the news. Soon they would have to turn off the ventilator, Ellie would be gone, and there was nothing he could do about it. "Come on Ellie, please wake up, we miss you," He begged. He was sitting in the chair that was now almost his permanent home when he saw Ellie's finger move. Only for a moment, but it definatly moved. Then, "Jess, whe… where am I?" she asked.

"Ellie, you're in hospital. You were hit by a car, you've been in a coma for three weeks" Jesse explained as he helped her sit up. "I heard what they said, about the ventilator, they were going to turn it off, weren't they," she said. "Yeah, but I wouldn't let them."

"Why not?"

"Cause I love you, isn't it obvious."

"Well, when you put it like that," she said, a shadow of a smile crossing her face.

_Knock, Knock_

"Can we come in?" Mark asked, a big smile crossing his face as he saw his daughter was awake.

"Hey, we've missed you,"He said

"Yeah right…" She began but Mark shushed her quickly.

"Hey, I'm glad all of you are here because I've got something that I'd like to ask Ellie," suddenly, Jesse got down on one knee and held out a blue box that was open to reveal a silver ring with a big diamond in the centre, "Ellie, I've had a lot of time to think over the past three weeks and I've already almost lost you once, and I know that it's sudden," he babbled " but, will do me the great honour of becoming my wife."

_Chapter nine_

"Ellie?" Jesse asked. She was just looking at him open mouthed, then, "YES, and a thousand times yes," she said grinning broadly, "when'll I be outta here, we've got a wedding to plan."

"Soon, but right now you have to rest," Mark said, looking at his youngest child happily.

"Alright," she said reluctantly and lay back on her pillows and went to sleep.

_Six months later…_

The wedding march played as Mark escorted Ellie down the isle to an eager Jesse. She looked beautiful in a long white gown and her grey crutches were bedecked with white ribbons and lilies. As she reached the alter, she gripped Jesse's hand and they both turned to face the priest.

A while later, they both said "I do," and Jesse slipped the ring on her finger and they kissed. It was the happiest day of their lives.

_THE END_

P.S. this story may seem soppy but I like this sort of thing , I just think that Jesse deserved a little happiness for once.


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